Tampa Bay Rays

by Ray Kuhn Fantasy baseball success is all about maximizing value and timing. You want to grab players at the right point on their trajectory upward and then part ways when they begin to trend downward. Of course that is easier said than done. Every other owner in your league is also trying to do the same exact thing with a lot of the same players, making it that much more difficult. All that means is that you have to look that much harder to find value. In some cases it means keeping your eyes out for rising prospects and grabbing them perhaps a week or two on the early side. Then when you find success with your “flash in the pan” additions, making sure that you don’t get too greedy and try letting them over stay their welcome in your lineup. With that in mind, here are 3 players whose stock I think is rising this week and 3 whose stock I think is falling. 3 Rising: Jonathan Singleton, 1B, Houston Astros. If Singleton was not suspended for 50 games to start the season, he may have already reached the major leagues. The slugging first base prospect hit 21 home runs last season with a .284 average and 79 RBI at Double-A. He looked primed to land in Houston early in 2013, but the suspension (which is ending next week) set back his time table. For fantasy owners, the bright side to this is that the suspension caused Singleton to be lost the shuffle of top prospects poised to make an impact early in 2013. The Astros are obviously a team in flux and the point of this season is to get their prospects some playing time and experience. It seems that Singleton will be moving through the system quickly and he will be motivated to make up for lost time. It might be a few weeks, at a minimum, until you see some value from Singleton, but if you have the bench space he is certainly worth the addition. Kevin Gausman, SP, Baltimore Orioles. Ok, it is time. Gausman is here and I don’t think he will be going away anytime soon. The Orioles have had issues with their starting rotation that are both health and performance related. Gausman was the fourth overall pick just last season and he has done nothing but live up to his high expectations since. Now it is time to see how that talent will translate to the major leagues. He throws in the high 90s, but even more importantly he has only walked one batter per nine innings so far this season. That will be a better predictor of his future success than his velocity, and that is why the Orioles were comfortable calling him up. For the season Gausman has a 3.11 ERA while striking out 49 batters in 46.1 innings. He finished out his Double-A career (well at least for now) with a six inning outing that saw him strikeout 10 batters while allowing only one run on one walk and four hits. That outing likely had a lot to do with why the Orioles recalled him, and I don’t think they would have done so if they didn’t plan on keeping him in the rotation. Don’t wait for his first start to grab him. Jake Odorizzi, SP, Tampa Bay Rays. What a surprise, the Rays have a pretty good pitching prospect. Odorizzi came over this winter in the James Shields trade and made his debut with the Rays earlier this week. In five innings against the Blue Jays he struck out six batters while allowing three runs with five hits and one walk. Even better for his long term prospects is that his last three innings were scoreless after he settled down from a rough first start. Tampa has a need in the rotation even after David Price returns, so I would expect Odorizzi to stick. Even better for his short term prospects, manager Joe Maddon pushed Odorizzi back to Monday where he will face the Marlins as part of a two start week. Prior to being recalled, Odorizzi was having success at Triple-A with a 3.83 ERA and 47 strikeouts over 44.2 innings and a 4-0 record. It is looking like Odorizzi is next in a line of Tampa pitching prospects. 3 Down: James Loney, 1B, Tampa Bay Rays. Did anyone really think Loney was going to keep it up? It seems th

Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports Tampa Bay Rays starting pitcher Jake Odorizzi has only made three career starts at the Major League level, including one this year. For that reason and others, the Rays are smart to push back Odorizzi’s scheduled start against the New York Yankees on Sunday. The 23-year-old will now take the mound in the series opener against the Miami Marlins on Memorial Day instead. Odorizzi was originally set to start opposite New York’s ace C.C. Sabathia. However, considering the right-hander struggled a bit in his outing against the Toronto Blue Jays on May 20, Tampa Bay thought it would be wise to have him start against a lesser quality opponent. Since it is going to take quite a bit to hang with the American League East leaders, the Rays definitely made the right decision to start Alex Cobb instead in the series finale against the Yankees. “Everything speaks to [the move],” manager Joe Maddon said, according to RaysBaseball.com. “It’s not a slight to anybody. It’s probably the right thing to do. Anybody given the same circumstances or choice [would do the same thing].” Odorizzi allowed three earned runs on five hits in five innings against the Blue Jays on Monday. He also struck out six batters and walked one while pitching in place of starter David Price. The reigning Cy Young Award winner was put on the 15-day disabled list with a triceps strain. Odorizzi has potential to be a top-notch starter in the big leagues. However, shaking his confidence by placing him in a high-stress situation is certainly not ideal. The Rays have a great opportunity to close in on the Yankees at the top of the divisional standings, with the series finale possibly being a pivotal game. There is no reason to put a rookie in that type of situation, especially when there is a way around it. Cobb has been outstanding in nine starts this season, which means he is more suited to handle the pressure. The right-hander is 5-2 with a 2.73 earned run average and 54 strikeouts in 59 1/3 innings this season.

After a disappointing series loss in Toronto, the Rays are coming home to host the Yankees, and Roberto Hernandez will get the start in game one tomorrow. I think that getting lost in his 5.24 ERA and the overall disappointing start to the season for Rays' pitching is the fact that Hernandez has been good. Like, not just "keeping a spot warm for Chris Archer, Alex Torres, or Jake Odorizzi good." More like "keeping Archer, Torres, and Odorizzi in Durham good." SIERA, my ERA estimator of choice, believes that out of starters to have pitched at least 40 innings, Roberto Hernandez has been the 21st best in the Major Leagues this year. Hernandez is striking out 21.2% of the batters he faces and walking 6.6%, while having over 50% of the balls put in play against him be ground balls. Yes, his HR/FB is a freakishly high 25%, which means every batter has hit against him with the power of Adam Dunn or Michael Morse, but that's unlikely to continue. The same skills that enable a pitcher to strike out a fifth of the batters he faces also enable him to post a reasonable HR/FB rate over the long run. Now, I've already talked about one of the ways Jim Hickey and the Rays staff have improved Roberto Hernandez—by throwing more of his excellent changeups—but there was something else new in his approach that I had missed until now. Against left-handed batters, Hernandez has been throwing a front-door sinker. This means that he aims his two-seam fastball at the batter's hip, and then lets it's excellent horizontal movement carry the pitch back over the plate or nearly so. He's gotten plenty of called strikes and plenty of whiffs with the pitch. It looks really effective, and I just assumed it's something he's always thrown. I was wrong. Here, from the Baseball Prospectus and Brooks Baseball player cards, is the location distribution of Roberto Hernandez's sinkers to lefties over his entire career: And here it is in 2013: Yes, Hernandez is always going to pound the down and outside corner of the zone, because that's how one gets ground balls, but he used to be a one trick pony against lefties. Now he's coming inside with the pitch as well. Over his whole career, he's thrown a sinker on the inner third or off the plate inside only 19.5% of the time. In 2013, 38.3% of the time. The change in approach has been borne out in the results. Over his career, Hernandez has only struck out 11.4% of the left-handed batters he's faced. In 2013, 20.2%. As I so often find myself doing, I can only tip my cap to Jim Hickey and whoever else works with the Rays pitching staff. They once again have taken a talented but flawed and predictable pitcher and have gotten him to play to his strengths while at the same time becoming less predictable. A side note about perception. When I started writing this article, I was certain that the entire Rays staff was throwing front-door sinkers more often this year. That's not true at all. Alex Cobb and Jeremy Hellickson are actually throwing that pitch less often. All that had happened is I had become more aware of the pitch by watching Hernandez, and had started taking greater note of it whenever anyone threw one. Another reminder of why it's a good idea to check the data whenever you think you see a pattern.

TORONTO (AP) Jose Bautista homered twice and drove in the winning run with a 10th-inning single, leading the Toronto Blue Jays to a 4-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday. View full post on Yahoo! Sports – MLB – Tampa Bay Rays News

The GBT – The Good, The Bad and The Telling sandwich, where The Bad is nice and lean and the The Telling is ripe. Jays 4, RAYS 3 (boxscore) No GBT today. THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA… The Rays have a 38.2% chance of making the playoffs. [CoolStandings] The Rays have shuffled their rotation. [TampaBay.com] Evan Longoria said his legs felt bad early in the season, but that he is feeling better now. [TampaBay.com] The Rays are one of several teams showing interest in recently-released reliever Jordan Norberto, who is rehabbing an elbow injury. [MLBTR] The Toronto Star wonders if ex-Blue Jays players like Kelly Johnson and Yunel Escobar benefit from fans booing them. [Toronto Star] Will Leitch says everything we compliment Joe Maddon for, people were complimenting Tony LaRussa for the same things in the 80s. Sure, both managers think outside the box. But it seems to me that is where the similarities stop. [SportsOnEarth] ESPN is laying off hundred of employees. Why? This is why. [BI Sports] The Spyder’s Web takes on Yunel Escobar’s home run celebration. [YouTube] DOWN ON THE FARM… Norfolk 4, DURHAM 3. MONTGOMERY. no game scheduled. Clearwater 3, CHARLOTTE 2. Great Lakes @ BOWLING GREEN. double-header postponed © The Professor for Rays Index, 2013. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: The Hangover

According to the superstitious faithful that frequent the Rays on Twitter, prior to yesterday's game, I was not allowed to watch Rays games, as they tend to lose recently whenever I do so. The entire series in Baltimore? I couldn't watch a single game, due to scheduling conflicts. What happened? They swept the Orioles, at Camden Yards. I watched Monday, in Toronto. What happened? The Rays lost, 7-5, against the Blue Jays; despite a rally in the ninth. Then, yesterday occurred. An afternoon game, against the Blue Jays, in Toronto. Alas, due to work, I could not watch the game. What occurred? Well, the Rays lost, due to the 2013 bullpen, in the 10th. 4-3. AKA, I did not watch a single second of that game, and the Rays proceeded to lose. I will happily begin watching games again tomorrow, without a nod or twitch to my superstition. Cliff Notes version on this loss: Fernando Rodney entered the 9th with the Rays up 3-2 over the Blue Jays, and allowed Jose Bautista to shoot a homer into the left field bullpen. 3-3. Then, Joel Peralta relieved Rodney, and successfully getting outs, led to Cesar Ramos in the 10th. Ramos led to Kyle Farnsworth, who faced Bautista and allowed the Jays to win the series, with a 4-3 victory. Rays bullpen, 2013. Reliable? Eh. Keeping you guessing? Yes. Not-so-fun stat: The Rays have blown 28 leads this season, nine of them in the seventh inning or later. Four of those leads? Blown in the ninth inning. Fun stat: With last night's double in the ninth, Evan Longoria has extended his hitting streak to 16 games, a career best. For the full post game recap, check out Danny's here. *** The Rays shuffled their rotation in preparation for the Yankees this weekend, with Alex Cobb now pitching Sunday and Jake Odorizzi facing the Marlins; and according to the Marlins website, Jose Fernandez, on Monday. The off day today allows Cobb to pitch on regular rest, and Joe Maddon told Marc Topkin that he pulled Cobb on Tuesday against the Blue Jays at 107 pitches with thoughts that this may occur. Maddon did not want to insult Odorizzi in any way, saying: "Just based on experience,'' Maddon said. "Cobb has been pitching really well, and Jake is new. Why not give Cobber the tougher assignment pretty much. I don't want to say anything bad about Miami, but in general terms, division rivalry, Cobber's had more experience, the Yankees are on a pretty good roll, let's throw him there. ... "It's not a slight to anybody. It's just probably the right thing to do, I think anybody would given the same set of choices or circumstances.'' The matchups for the series against the Yankees are the following: Friday: Roberto Hernandez vs. David Phelps Saturday: Matt Moore vs. Vidal Nuno Sunday: Alex Cobb vs. CC Sabathia Links: - Rafael Soriano told reporters that his four-year-old son could have made a play better than Bryce Harper did in the Nationals loss to the Giants Tuesday night. Then, he took his comments back Wednesday. - A fan was ejected in a minor league game for arguing balls and strikes...and that was the least bananas thing that occurred. - Grantland compiled a list of "The 20 Types of Depressed Sports Fans." Considering the years of Devil Rays fandom under our belt, and how the Rays seem to continually mess with our emotions, I think we can all relate to all 20 at one time or another. Also, read the comments section, especially "The Mets Fan."

Game 4, May 22123456789RHEDurham Bulls (Rays)110010000392Norfolk Tides (Orioles)30001000x440Season: 27-19; Trip: 1-1Wrap, Box, Virginian-PilotBulls pitchers walked seven batters last night, 3 of them scored, and that was essentially the story of the game. To be fair to Alex Torres he’s been bouncing around quite a bit in the last week. So he had something of an excuse for his rough first inning. Nevertheless, he walked two batters in the first inning and they both scored. Will Inman had less of an excuse. The batter he walked in the 5th scored and he had walked two more before he was pulled in the 6th. Jeff Beliveau, also back from the Rays, came in to setting things down and kept the base runners from scoring.Overall, the Bulls split these last four games with the Tides 2-2. Every game was decided by one run, three of them by identical 3-2 scores. The Bulls hit reasonably well over the series, but had troubles getting base runners home. Outside the game — Chris Gimenez is with the Bulls. I missed exactly what Kinas said, but apparently a minor injury. I was wrong. What’s new there?Mike Montgomery scheduled to start today.Tampa Bay is starting a series against the RailRiders parent club, the Yankees, today.

Nothing really interesting happened yesterday. You can safely stop reading now, knowing you missed absolutely nothing. Triple-A Durham Bulls (27-19) Durham struggled to get the shutdown inning in their 4-3 loss to Norfolk. Vince Belnome gave them a 1-0 lead with an RBI double in the first inning, but Norfolk got to Alex Torres just as quickly. With two outs in the bottom half of the inning, Brandon Wood hit a bases clearing double to put the Tides on top. Torre was not sharp at all. Although he limited the damage to three runs, he lasted just four innings, allowing two hits and striking out four while walking three. Only 36 of his 70 pitches were strikes. The Bulls managed to fight back and tie the game in the fifth, but Will Inman struggled just as much as Torres. After walking a batter and then allowing a stolen base with two outs, Ryan Flaherty singled home what would prove to be the winning run. Belnome and Jason Bourgeois each reached base three times. Wil Myers did not play. Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (22-23) Montgomery was off. Class-A Advanced Charlotte Stone Crabs (19-26) Despite a solid effort from Roberto Gomez, Charlotte fell to Clearwater last night by a 3-2 score. Although he allowed all three Threshers runs and only struck out one, he lasted seven innings and didn't walk any batters. The top two hitters in the lineup, Kes Carter and Jake Hager, reached base five times, the Stone Crabs went just one for 12 with runners in scoring position and left seven runners on base. Both Stone Crabs runs scored on groundouts by Drew Vettleson. Josh Sale and Ryan Brett were both not in the lineup Wednesday. Class A Bowling Green Hot Rods (27-16) An inning and a half into game one of their doubleheader, the Hot Rods were suspended. CLICK HERE FOR ALL BOX SCORES Star of the day- The VSL team got back to scoring runs. Goat of the day- Everyone playing on US-based affiliates Today's games (probables courtesy of milb.com) Durham @ Scranton/Wilkes-Barre 6:35 PM (MiLB.TV)Jim Paduch* (1-3, 7.76) v. Brett Marshall (2-2, 4.60) Montgomery v. Jackson 8:05 PMMatt Buschmann (5-2, 2.96) v. Anthony Fernandez (1-0, 8.84) Charlotte v. Clearwater 6:30 PMRyan Carpenter* (3-3, 3.33) v. Nick Hernandez (3-1, 3.64) Bowling Green v. Great Lakes 8:05 PM DOUBLEHEADERDylan Floro* (3-0, 1.54) v. Ralston Cash* (2-3, 4.50)TBA v. TBA Game one will be resumed in the second inning, game two will be a seven inning game *Listed as TBA on milb.com Scouting the opposition Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (Yankees)21-23 (3rd in IL North)Offense: 169 R (14th) .689 OPS (13th)Pitching: 3.84 ERA (7th) 1.36 WHIP (7th)Top 30 Prospects: RHP Brett Marshall (6), RHP Mark Montgomery (11), OF Melky Mesa (18), 2B Corban Joseph (27), OF Thomas Neal (28) Jackson Generals (Seattle)19-24 (4th in SL North)Offense: 189 R (5th) .693 OPS (5th)Pitching: 3.28 ERA (2nd) 1.23 WHIP (4th)Top 30 Prospects: RHP Taijuan Walker (2), SS Brad Miller (9), RHP Carson Smith (16), OF Leon Landry (17), 2B Jack Marder (20), C John Hicks (21), OF Francisco Martinez (22), OF Julio Morban (24), 3B Vinnie Catricala (26), RHP Chance Ruffin (27), LHP Anthony Fernandez (30) Clearwater Threshers (Philadelphia)23-22 (4th in FSL North)Offense: 233 R (2nd) .753 OPS (2nd)Pitching: 3.98 ERA (8th) 1.48 WHIP (12th)Top 30 Prospects: 3B Maikel Franco (5), RHP Kenny Giles (19), OF Kelly Dugan (22), OF Aaron Altherr (30) Great Lakes Loons (Los Angeles)14-29 (8th in MWL East)Offense: 164 R (15th) .646 OPS (15th)Pitching: 4.52 ERA (15th) 1.45 WHIP (14th)Top 30 Prospects: SS Corey Seager (3), SS Jesmuel Valentin (14), RHP Scott Griggs (18), RHP Zach Bird (19), OF James Baldwin (22), RHP Angel Sanchez (25), OF Jeremy Rathjen (29)

ROGER MOONEY TORONTO The Rays will take advantage of Thursday’s off day and juggle the rotation for this weekend’s series with the Yankees. Alex Cobb will be moved up and start Sunday’s game. Rookie Jake Odorizzi, originally slated to pitch Sunday, will be pushed back to Monday and face…

TORONTO — Jose Bautista homered twice and drove in the winning run with a 10th-inning single, leading the Toronto Blue Jays to a 4-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday.Bautista went 4 for 4 with a walk and four RBIs. Three other players had one hit, but that was it for Toronto's offense. Read more Jose Bautista news